Miskolc: Carlsen wins the rapid chess match 5:3

6/3/2008 – Game seven was make-or-break for Peter Leko, and things looked quite promising for the Hungarian GM. But on move 42 he faltered badly, and Magnus Carlsen lashed out with a crushing win. In the final game the young Norwegian was never in danger and drew in 27 moves. He finished with a two-point overall victory. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

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Day three report

By GM Zoltán Gyimesi

1.d4. Although Peter was better with 1.e4 in all three games, in his
last white game he switched to 1.d4.

1...d5 It took a minute for Magnus to decide what to play. 2.c4
c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3

4...Bf5 5.Nc3. Peter has little practice in this line, because his
only (rapid) game with white in this position was against non other than Magnus
a year ago. There followed a6 and after a spectacular fight it was a draw. 5...e6
6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6. On the other hand Magnus had it recently with both
colours. 8.Bd2 Nbd7 9.Qc2 Be7 10.Be2 dxc4 11.Bxc4 0-0 12.0-0 c5 13.dxc5 Nxc5
14.Rfd1 Rc8. In Carlsen-Anand, Dortmund 2007 they inserted a3, and black
drew after a little suffering. 15.Be1 Qc7

Quite a normal position, although it is a mystical question what on earth a
bishop could be doing on e1?! 16.Be2 Nce4 17.Qa4 Nxc3 18.Bxc3. The pair
of bishops would give White a slight edge, but he cannot keep it for long. 18...Nd5
19.Bd4 a6 20.Bf3 Rfd8 21.Qb3 Bf6

22.g3. Peter was afraid that after 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Bxd5 Rxd5 24.Rxd5
exd5 25.g3 his adventage is not enough. In this case he is mistaken, but I can
understand his concerns, since Magnus is capable of holding rook endings with
a pawn less, and here he still hasn't lost that pawn. 22...b6. Black
has nearly equalized. 23.Be2 Bxd4. 23...e5 24.Bc3 Nxc3 25.bxc3 was Peter's
idea, but after 25...b5 I don't think he can do anything with the f7 weakness.
24.Rxd4 a5 25.Ba6 Rb8 26.Be2 Rbc8 27.Rc4 Qb8 28.Rac1 Rxc4 29.Qxc4 Ne7 30.Qb5
Kf8 31.b4 Rd5 32.Qa4 axb4. Rd2 was a strong alternative, but Magnus was
already very short on time. Peter still had some minutes, but not for long.
33.Qxb4 Qd6 34.Qb3 Qd8 35.Rb1 Rd6

Magnus has defended all his weaknesses. It is not easy to break through, but
Bf3 with Rc1-c4-a4-a8 could have been a try. 36.h4?! A thematical move,
but now it merely weakens the g3 pawn, and takes away the h4 square from the
rook. 36...Kg8 37.Bf3 Nf5 38.Rc1 Ne7 39.Kg2 Rd2! Finally some activity.
Now White should agree the inevitable with Rc2 or Rd1. 40.Rc4?! Nf5! Comes
the second piece into activity! 41.Kg1?! 41.Rc2?? would be a terrible
tactical mistake, because 41...Nxe3+! is possible and Black wins. 41...Qf6!

And Magnus brings his third (and last) piece into the attack. Now he threatens
to jump in with the knight, and everything hangs. Peter realised it, too, but
he has to win in order to level the match. And look, Black's king is very vulnerable!
Let's mate it on the back rank! 42.Qxb6?? But NO! This was not your time!
Black arrives first! Instead 42.Qc3 was the only move, and after 42...Rxa2
43.Qxf6 gxf6 44.Rb4 Ra6 45.Bb7 Ra1+ 46.Kg2 Ra2 47.Kf1 they can agree to a draw.
42...Qa1+! Wow, what a check! 43.Kg2 Qe1. And again, as in the
third game, it is precisely the f2 square (pawn), that costs Peter another half
point! 44.Rc8+ Kh7 45.Qb8

Had it been White to move... 45...Rxf2+? Okay, it still wins, but wasn't
45...Nxe3+! 46.Kh3 Qf1+ 47.Kh2 Rxf2+ 48.Bg2 Qxg2# much easier and faster? I
know, you had just seconds left, and everything wins. 46.Kh3 Certainly
Peter would give it up already some moves earlier in a real game, but he played
for the public, and they found it very entertaining, that his king run out to
the other side of the board. 46...Qf1+ 47.Kg4

47...Nh6+ 48.Kf4

48...Rxf3+ 49.Ke4 f5+

50.Ke5

50...Rxe3+ 51.Kd6 Qa6+

52.Ke7 Qa3+ 53.Kd7 Rd3+

But this is really game over. And with it Magnus has already secured the match.
0-1. [Click to replay]

1.d4. After having 1.e4 in the first five games, it is a little compensation
to have 1.d4 in the last three. 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Bg5

5...h6 6.Bh4 Be7 7.e3 0-0 8.Bd3 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.exd4 Nc6

Magnus with black played d5 and was slightly worse against Zhao Zong last year
in the World Cup. But still he managed to win the game. The position is more
or less equal. The minor pieces are well developed. 11.Bc2. The novelty,
but not a very succesful one. Gelfand chose the natural Rc1 in a rapid game
against Peter, but even there Black equalised comfortably. 11...d5 12.Bxf6
Bxf6 13.cxd5

That was the idea behind 11.Bc2, now the pawn on d4 is protected, but... 13...Nb4!
... is possible! And Peter is a player who will never miss such subtleties!
14.dxe6. Forced, otherwise White will have an isolani for nothing. 14...Bxf3
15.gxf3 Nxc2 16.Qxc2

What did they do in less than six moves with that nice looking position? If
you take a look at White's king's pawn structure you would hardly guess that
it was done by one of the best player on the world. I am sure Magnus is also
not so proud of this game and will forget it quickly. 16...Qxd4. Probably
Bxd4 was more accurate, but after the previous game's blunder Peter was not
in the best shape either. 17.Rad1 Qh4. Again not the best, Qc4 was more
precise with some hopes for an adventage. Now Magnus does clean work to end
all unpleasance. 18.Qe4! fxe6 19.Qxe6+ Kh8 20.Qg4

Practically mating the queen. There is nothing to play for. After the exchanging
procedure... 20...Rac8 21.Rd7

21... Qxg4+ 22.fxg4 Bxc3

23.bxc3 Rxc3 24.Rxa7 Rf4 25.f3

25...Rcxf3 26.Rxf3 Rxf3 27.Kg2 ...they agreed to draw. Altogether 5:3
for Magnus with two wins and six draws. Knowing only the result suggests that
Magnus was dominating, but at the closing ceremony he honestly admitted that
he was a bit lucky. If they would replay all the games starting always at move
20, the result could be easily the other way around. Maybe next time... 1/2-1/2[Click to replay]

See also

12/30/2017 – The "King Salman World Blitz & Rapid Championships 2017" in Riyadh from Decemer 26th to 30th. At the half way point of the Blitz Championship, the defending champ Sergey Karjakin leads with 9 / 11. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a half point back followed by Peter Svidler and a trio of Chinese: Wang, Ding and Yu on 8 / 11. In the Women's Pia Cramling has a full point lead with 9½ / 11. Watch live with Rounds 11 to 22 from 12:00 Noon CET (6:00 AM EST) on Saturday with commentary by E. Miroshnichenko & WGM K. Tsatsalashvili.

See also

12/6/2017 – Imagine this: you tell a computer system how the pieces move — nothing more. Then you tell it to learn to play the game. And a day later — yes, just 24 hours — it has figured it out to the level that beats the strongest programs in the world convincingly! DeepMind, the company that recently created the strongest Go program in the world, turned its attention to chess, and came up with this spectacular result.

Video

The introductory position of the Kasparov Gambit can occur after 1 d4,1 Nf3 and 1 c4, which can appeal to a wide range of players. The usual move order is 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nf3 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e5!? 5 Nb5 d5 6 cxd5 Bc5 bringing us to a very sharp position. On this 60 mins, FIDE Senior Trainer Andrew Martin argues the case from the Black side, showing both classic Kasparov masterpieces and games from the present day and suggests that White's defensive task is not easy. This is a practical gambit which will help players at all levels to win more games. It is ideal for must-win situations with Black. It is a gambit that White cannot decline,as if he does, Black gets a good position instantly. White must take up the cudgels and fight!